


Brownie Points

by Beltenebra



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, Kanjani8 (Band), NewS (Band)
Genre: Baking, Christmas Fluff, Humor, Love Confessions, M/M, Tegoshi magic, Totally manly brownies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 17:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8499523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beltenebra/pseuds/Beltenebra
Summary: Shige is slightly more successful at the planning of holiday surprises than the execution.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for JE Holiday exchange 2009.

Tegoshi had just wriggled into the perfect position in the middle of his pile of pillows. He had the extra fuzzy blanket draped over his knees and hot chocolate and the remote poised to press play on his recording of the Italy vs. France 2006 World Cup Final, next June couldn't come fast enough in his opinion, when his cell phone trilled.

He frowned at it, he would probably just ignore the interruption of his perfect, low-key Christmas eve if it hadn't been playing Shige's latest solo. Shige really wasn't the kind of person to call him out of the blue unless it was serious. So unless Matsumoto had hunted Shige down and stolen his cell phone, which was not as unlikely a prospect as Tegoshi would like, he should probably answer it.

He heaved a sigh, unearthed himself from his cozy couch cocoon, and picked up his phone just before it went to voice-mail. "Shige? Is something wrong? This had better be an emergency."

"Tegoshi, hi. I honestly didn't expect you to pick up." Shige's voice sounded odd, a mixture of embarrassment and relief.

"Well, I figured you wouldn't call me for something trivial."

Shige's reply was a nervous chuckle. Now Tegoshi was officially intrigued, "Is everything ok, Shige?"

"I... I need your help."

He nodded sagely to himself, "I think that pretty much goes without saying."

"Hey!"

Tegoshi chuckled at Shige's indignation. "What specifically do you need my help with, Shige?"

"I don't want to get into it over the phone. Can you just meet me at Ryo's?"

"My Ryo's?", he asked with an extra measure of incredulity.

" _Our_ Ryo's." Shige grumped. Tegoshi could practically see his furrowed brow, he smiled.

"Very mysterious. I'll be right over."

"Good. Don't dawdle." Shige paused, "And Tegoshi?"

Tegoshi paused with one shoe on, "Hmm?"

"Thanks."

Shige hung up rather abruptly, leaving Tegoshi to grin at his cell phone. Shige was clearly up to something. This had the possibility of being just as entertaining as a good soccer match.

~~~

Tegoshi knocked on the door of Ryo's apartment, he really wasn't sure what he expected but it certainly wasn't a very exasperated Shige liberally dusted with flour and splattered with what looked like chocolate.

He couldn't keep the grin off his face, "Shige, are you... baking?!"

Shige glowered back and Tegoshi just grinned harder. "I'm attempting to bake, but it's not working." He stepped back to let Tegoshi in with a defeated sounding sigh. "I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong."

"Ok, let's start at the beginning. Why are you attempting to bake in Ryo-chan's apartment?"

"Mine doesn't have an oven."

Tegoshi watched Shige squirm for a few seconds, "...and?"

Shige seemed to come to the conclusion that he was going to have to fess up if Tegoshi was going to be of any use. "He's working tonight. He has Eito stuff and I wanted him to come home to something nice on Christmas eve."

Tegoshi's answering smile was very fond, of course he was going to milk this for all it was worth but for the meantime he was quite touched. "Shige, have you told Ryo-chan you like him? You probably don't need to wreck his kitchen to do it."

"I did tell him!" Shige's reply was immediate and more vehement than Tegoshi expected. "I _did_ tell him but he didn't believe me. I don't know _why_ he didn't, I had notes! Everything was very clearly laid out, the notes were even color coded."

Tegoshi did not tell Shige that he was really very cute when he pouted, he doubted it would go over well.

"He just laughed, he thought it was some kind of joke."

"So you thought you would break into his apartment and bake for him."

"On Christmas! That's logical, right?"

Shige was looking a little frantic at this point so Tegoshi decided to humor him. "Sure, Shige. Hey, not that I mind coming over but why didn't you ask Kei-chan to help?"

Shige rolled his eyes, "I love the guy and I know he can make ramen but he doesn't know the first thing about baking. Also he wanted me to make a cake in the shape of a heart."

“I don't know all that much about baking either, you know.” Tegoshi pointed out reasonably.

“Yes, but... for some reason things just seem to _work_ when you try them.” Shige replied grudgingly.

Tegoshi pursed his lips in thought for a second, “No, that's totally fair. So, shall we get started?”

He followed Shige into the kitchen which, while being liberally splattered with flour and what he assumed to be batter, didn't look as much like a war zone as he feared; the ceiling was, as of yet, mostly unmarred. 

Several plates worth of previous attempts were lined up on the counter. They ranged from hopelessly burnt to unattractively gooey. Tegoshi looked at the lumpy concoction currently occupying the mixing bowl and raised his eyebrows.

“I think they're getting _worse_.” Shige intoned miserably from his seat at the table. “I should be able to do this. I mean, it's just following directions. I'm good at following directions!”

He patted Shige's shoulder reassuringly, “It's going to be fine. Erm... what are we making again?” He peered into the bowl and poked the rapidly solidifying mixture with a spoon. “Fudge?” 

Shige buried his head in his arms, “Brownies.”

“Right, brownies, of course.” He rolled up his sleeves and smiled his best reassuring smile at Shige. “It will be fine, trust me.”

~~~

Shige hadn't said how relieved he was to have Tegoshi there helping but he was pretty sure the other man knew.

Tegoshi insisted that they start by cleaning up the kitchen and disposing of Shige's previous efforts. “It's important to start fresh, ne? We have to set ourselves up for success!”

They stood shoulder to shoulder, Shige reading down the steps of the recipe while Tegoshi measured ingredients.

Tegoshi melted the chocolate over a hot water bath and nudged the bowl with the eggs and flour toward Shige with his elbow. “Here, you beat this together while I finish the chocolate.”

Shige started mixing vigorously and was dismayed when he had a bowl full of lumpy flour almost immediately. He glared at the offending ingredients and increased his efforts, “Stupid flour, you're supposed to be smooth.” 

Tegoshi stopped him with a hand on his elbow. “Shige, I think you're being a bit too... aggressive.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, I think it would work better if you weren't so aggravated.”

Shige gave Tegoshi his best 'you have got to be kidding me' look.

“Honestly, Shige! Your attitude is important with things like this. You are making these brownies to make Ryo-chan happy, right? So you should be happy when you're making them.” Tegoshi tilted his head and took the bowl gently, “I think your negativity is affecting the batter.”

“You're serious about this.”

“Absolutely! Here,” Tegoshi handed him the spoon he had been using on the chocolate, “stir this gently. I'll take over here.”

Within minutes, the lumpy mess in the bowl was a smooth, consistent texture. Shige sighed, “Whatever, as long as it's working.”

Tegoshi continued to mix as Shige poured the melted chocolate concoction into the bowl and it looked more like something edible than Shige had managed to produce in hours of work. Tegoshi beamed and he couldn't help but smile back.

“So that's your secret, positive thinking?”

Tegoshi's eyes sparkled, “Never underestimate the power of suggestion, Shige. Sometimes if you are willing to ask, the universe listens.”

Later when he was pulling a pan of picture perfect brownies out of the oven, he grinned back at his band mate, “I think you may be onto something there.”

~~~~

Ryo was tired. Really tired. It had been a long day culminating in a live variety show appearance that required them all to describe their 'ideal Christmas Eve date' in great detail. Ryo was fairly certain that 'a quiet evening at home with a book and several beers followed by going to bed early and _alone_ ' would not have been well received so he had made up some schlock about a taking a walk around Tokyo Disneyland to see the lights.

All he really wanted to do was sleep. He let himself in and was halfway through taking off his shoes when several facts registered simultaneously.

His apartment smelled like chocolate. He didn't think he had any chocolate in the house, there wasn't any reason his apartment ought to smell like chocolate. He sniffed the air suspiciously, it smelled like chocolate and baking. Someone was baking in his apartment.

Which brought the second fact to the forefront. He heard people talking in his kitchen. Tegoshi and Shige to be precise. He paused to let the words sort themselves into coherency. They were arguing about... frosting?

“I refuse to put pink hearts on them, Tego. I made them out of semi-sweet chocolate so they would be less sugary. Covering them in frosting would completely ruin the effect. Plus it's _girlie_.”

“You mean to tell me that baking surprise Christmas treats for a boy isn't girlie, Shige? Really, that's the basis for your argument?”

From the harried sound of his voice, Shige was flustered. Ryo grinned to himself, Shige was cute when he was flustered.

“That's not the point! There will be no frosting, no heart-shaped candies, no decorative drizzle of any kind... these are going to be manly brownies. Stop laughing!”

Ryo could hear Shige's weary sigh over the sound of Tegoshi giggling helplessly. “Just, help me with the cocoa, he's going to be home any sec- oh.”

Shige stopped suddenly in the kitchen doorway at the sight of Ryo standing in the living room and grinning. He had mugs in his hands and a faint blush on his cheeks. “I can explain,” he said hurriedly.

Tegoshi followed him out, not bothering to conceal his warm smile. “Merry Christmas, Ryo-chan! Shige made you brownies!”

The other man ducked his head to hide his embarrassment, “Tegoshi helped.”

Ryo sprawled on his couch with a happy sigh and batted his eyes at the mugs Shige was carrying, “Is one of those for me?”

Shige handed him a mug and watched anxiously as Ryo picked up one of the brownies. He sniffed it, “Well it looks normal, smells alright. Mmm, still warm.”

He smiled at Shige who glared back. “Just try it already.”

It was chocolatey without being overly sweet, the taste was dark and smooth. He chewed and blinked, “This is actually good!”

“You don't need to sound quite so surprised.” Shige grumbled, trying to hide his smile.

Several brownies and a few rounds of hot chocolate later, Ryo and Shige were slumped comfortably against each other and Tegoshi was curled up in a ball at the other end of the couch snoozing peacefully.

“What did you put in that cocoa, sleeping pills?”

Shige bit his bottom lip and looked off to the side, “Ummm, more like chocolate liqueur. Kind of a lot of it.”

“I'm impressed. I can't believe you drugged Tego to get some time alone with me.”

“I _told_ you I liked you.” 

Ryo's smile softened as Shige met his eyes, “I believe you.”

He heaved himself off the couch and draped a blanket over Tegoshi before holding a hand out to the still-seated Shige who raised an eyebrow at him. Ryo just smiled serenely and tipped his head to indicate that Shige should just take his hand already.

Shige rolled his eyes but let Ryo pull him up off the couch. Ryo pulled harder than he needed to causing Shige to stumble forward, right into his arms. He grinned; he knew all of that experience with romance dramas would pay off eventually.

Before the younger man could react, Ryo tightened his hold on Shige and kissed him softly.

Shige made a soft sound of surprise and Ryo used the opportunity to deepen the kiss, tilting his head and sliding one hand up into Shige's hair. To his credit, Shige didn't hesitate to follow him right into the kiss, his hands tight on Ryo's shoulders.

Long moments later, Ryo pulled away just enough for them to catch their breath. Shige rested his forehead against Ryo's with a slightly dazed smile. “That was... hmmm, wow. What would a whole dinner get me?”

Ryo's answering chuckle was low and wicked and sent a pleasant little chill down Shige's spine. “Find out next time. C'mon, I'm tired.” He stepped back a few paces and tugged on Shige's hand.

Shige nodded, “ I know you must be, I'll head home.”

“Bullshit. You wanted me to have a nice, romantic Christmas? That means you're staying.”

He dragged Shige, who complained the whole way but didn't bother to conceal his delight, back towards his room. They changed into more comfortable night clothes and Ryo arranged Shige's limbs to his satisfaction, snuggling up with his head tucked right under Shige's chin. “If you make me waffles, I'll let you despoil me in the morning,” Ryo mumbled sleepily before passing out entirely.

Shige smiled to himself, this had all gone far better than he could have imagined; calling Tegoshi had been inspired. He sighed and yawned widely, the comfort of Ryo's bed and all the chocolate was starting to have a soporific effect on him. He brushed Ryo's bangs off his face and murmured, “Semi-sweet dreams, Ryo-chan.” before drifting off to sleep.


End file.
